Dress-to-Capelet Conversion Tutorial

What steampunker doesn't love making their own clothes, right? It can be a lot of work, but so rewarding. But the secret is, it doesn't always have to be a ton of work, and altering or converting a garment can sometimes be far easier than making one from scratch. Cheaper, too!

A good capelet is a fabulous addition to any steampunk wardrobe. Cute, stylish, fun to wear, and yes, it's practical. Perfect for warding off a light chill while still keeping your arms free and unencumbered by a coat.

For my capelet project, I started with this--if I'm being frank--frighteningly ugly dress, which I got at the thrift store for $3.50. Don't worry about the dress's size--the capelet is one-size-fits-all.

While I do like the thick, heavy knit fabric of this dress, the material it's made of isn't really important. What matters is that it snaps up the front and has these very wide, weird, tapered armholes. Why anyone in their right mind would design a dress with sleeves like this, I have no idea, but they really are essential for this particular project.

Lay the dress flat on your cutting surface and, with a Sharpie or fabric chalk, trace a gently curved line all the way across the garment, incorporating as much of the armhole's width as possible.

Cut along the line you've drawn, all the way across the garment. (It is extremely important that the dress be laid out completely flat, to avoid uneven edges. If a few uneven edges occur anyway, just trim them up with scissors. Nothing to worry about.)

If the dress has shoulder pads, for goodness' sake, cut them out! (Seriously, who invented those things? I mean, really?)

Fold the edges over about 1/4 of an inch for hemming. My project is made of material that doesn't ravel easily, so a single fold worked just fine for me, but if you're working with a material that ravels and frays more easily, you may need to fold the material over a second time before pinning it down.

Now, sew up your hem. I chose to do mine by hand so I could work on it while talking to my boyfriend on the phone in the evenings, but of course you could do this on a sewing machine too.

And there you have it!

 

Really--it's that simple. I chose to keep mine pretty simple, since I like the casual versatility of it, but of course, there are endless possibilities for dressing this up and decorating it. Trims, ruffles, a corsage, brooch, fancy buttons, lacing or cording...make it your own!

Be sure to let me know how your project turns out, should you decide to try it for yourself. I'd love to see the results of your creativity!

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Do you have a conversion or alteration project tutorial that you'd like to share on The Facts of Steampunk Life? Give us a shout at factsofsteampunklife(at)gmail(dot)com!

Steampunk Style: Arctic Explorer

I don't know about where you live, but here at my house it's COLD!!! All of the weathermen are talking about all this "Arctic air" that's blowing through, and it certainly feels arctic outside, so naturally I got to thinking about the idea of a steampunk arctic explorer. Here are the results. Enjoy!

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Along the creek near my house, there's a limestone wall with tiny little springs coming out of it. During the winter, the springs freeze and keep building up until spring, so just a few weeks into winter they already look like a giant frozen waterfall. What better place for the photo shoot?

 An expedition photo...for posterity.

 Jotting down a few observations, like any good explorer would.

And of course, checking the map and coordinates.

This outfit was a ton of fun to put together--leather trench coat, lots of scarves, newsboy cap, Swiss motorcycle goggles (an awesome Christmas gift from my amazing brothers!), the usual assortments of belts, buckles, and boots, great-grandpa's revolver, messenger bag (another awesome gift, this one from Mom)...and of course, I just couldn't resist adding the rose corsage.

Nor could I resist the opportunity to take a serious moment and pay tribute to Ernest Shackleton and his men, and their truly epic journey to the South Pole. Seriously--hats off to all of them. I actually drew quite a bit of my inspiration for this outfit and photo shoot from pictures of their expedition, found in the book Endurance, by Alfred Lansing. Read it...but only in warm weather. You'll freeze otherwise.

 Of course, even intrepid explorers need to come back inside where it's warm and settle down to a cup of hot chocolate after their adventures.

 

 A good book is also a must...

...but then it's back to work, mapping out the next voyage and adventure!

Always take your adventures and explorations seriously...

 ...just not too seriously.

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Hope you all enjoyed these! I had a ton of fun with this photo shoot, so I hope you have fun looking at the results. By the way, photo credit goes to my sister Karri; she's taking photography in high school, so I figured I could kill two birds with one stone, getting pictures taken and letting her practice her skills at the same time.

My First Foray into Steampunk Photography

A couple of days ago I was digging through some old pictures I had stored on my computer and came across a collection I'd forgotten about--my first steampunk photo shoot!
As near as I can tell, these were from sometime in early 2011. I had just discovered steampunk and was still learning (not just about the genre but about photography as well), so maybe they're not great. But I still think they're kind of fun, and wanted to share them.
Enjoy!

{My mom's pair of Victorian boots, my antique collection of Browning's poems, and a pocket watch left over from the jewelry story my dad used to own.}

{Mom's boots, Browning's Poems, an old pocket watch, and a rose left over from a wedding in which I was a bridesmaid.}

{One of my favorite necklaces, a book from my grandpa's library, a pair of my great-grandma's gloves, an old painting, and my mom's leather doctor bag.}

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Hopefully I've made progress since then. Next week I'll post pictures from my latest venture into creating and photographing steampunk still-lifes. And later on this week... Arctic Steampunk Fashion!

How I Became a Twinings Snob

I’ve been laughed at, teased, and cajoled, but there’s nothing I can do about it and the fact remains:

When it comes to tea, I’m a Twinings snob.

It’s not that I won’t drink tea from other brands. It’s not even that I don’t like tea from other brands. It’s not that I think people who drink tea from other brands are uncultured barbarians. (I’ve met a few uncultured barbarians who habitually drink other brands of tea, but to my knowledge there is no connection between the two.) It’s not that I consider myself some kind of Anglophile and only prefer Twinings for the name. It doesn't even have to do with the fact that its three centuries of history and doing business from the same address in London make it the most steampunk beverage on the market. Honest.

The simple fact is that at an early, formative time in my life, my brain was programmed to prefer Twinings. It’s true. Here’s how it happened.

I was six years old when my paternal grandfather, a long-time Baptist preacher, accepted a teaching position at the Bible College in Nuneaton, England. Suddenly he and my grandmother (whom we all called “Moofy”), both of whom I was used to seeing on a daily basis and even shared a house with at the time, would be living on the other side of the world for nine months out of the year.

For a six-year-old, they might as well have been moving to another galaxy for nine centuries, but Moofy assured me that we would keep in contact and have plenty of adventures together over the summers. She kept her word. During the school year, not a single week went by without a phone call, letter, postcard, or package (my favorite of which contained authentic, live, invisible leprechauns she had caught in her back garden and persuaded to go live with her American grandchildren). And during the summer, we had our adventures.

Moofy and I were both notoriously early risers, up before dawn most days. My mother (who already had two more children younger than me) was only too glad to get some badly-needed extra sleep and let someone else corral her early bird for a while, so Moofy and I most always had the earliest hours to ourselves.

The summer after Moofy’s first year in England, I was introduced to the world of tea. If I had ever had tea prior to that time, I don’t remember it. Honestly, I find it unlikely that Mom would compound a problem by giving tea to a child who hardly slept at all to begin with. But what are grandparents for if not giving children treats that parents wouldn’t? And in one of her giant black suitcases, Moofy had brought home a whole stash of Twinings tea.

Of course, I’m sure much of my obsession with tea grew from its immediate connection to special mornings with my grandmother, but I loved it for itself, too. Earl Grey, Lady Grey, English Breakfast, Irish Breakfast...I loved them all.

When Moofy returned to England for the next school year, she left the remainder of her tea stash behind with me. The next summer, she replenished it. It continued like that for years. Once I reached my teens, I tried branching out and sampling other brands of tea, but they all seemed to lack something. It wasn’t that they weren’t good, it was just that...they weren’t the same. My tea palate had been built on the distinctive flavors of Twinings, so to me if it didn’t taste like Twinings Earl Grey, it didn’t taste like Earl Grey at all.

And that’s how I became a Twinings snob.

Eventually health problems forced my grandparents to retire and come back to the family farm permanently. By then I had discovered that Twinings could be purchased in the United States as well, so I didn’t need to fear my supply being cut off.

Moofy and I continued sharing our tea experiences for many years. When I had friends over throughout high school, Moofy would invite us to her house for a sunrise breakfast tea. When I moved in to help her and keep her company after my grandfather’s death, I made certain the tea cupboard always stayed well-stocked—with Twinings, of course. When her health began its last serious decline and she lost interest in food, she still looked forward to the tea and snack I made every afternoon. Even at the very end, when Moofy didn’t even know who I was anymore, we could still sit down and enjoy a good, hot cup of Twinings tea together.

As I write this, it has been four years to the day since Moofy passed away. I still miss her every single day of my life. There are so many things I want to tell her and share with her, but can’t. And even though the pain of losing her has settled and faded with time, there’s still a hollow spot in my life where she used to be.

But every morning when I put the kettle on, pull my box of tea from the cupboard, and smell the sweet, strong aroma of Twinings, it’s still just a little bit like those early mornings all those summers ago...and a little bit like Moofy is still here.

And that’s why I’ll stay a Twinings snob forever.

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Coming up: A review of the steampunk novel Perpetual Motion, as well as an interview with author Bruce Hesselbach!